5 Frigging Stars! Review: Self Made: Inspired by the Life Of Madam CJ Walker

Go on Netflix, and watch this immediately. You’re welcome.

Self Made educates, navigates, and enlightens on so many topics with such a deft, subtle yet effective touch that days later you’ll still be contemplating and thinking about all the levels that are shown here.

Quick summary: Madam CJ (Sarah) Walker is one of the first ever self-made African-American business owners. She built up her hair products business from the ground up, first going door to door to sell her products then eventually owning factories and leading a team of tens of thousands of African American women who were her sales force, or as she called them, her “army”.

She and her daughter opened up hair salons specifically for African American women and through her company, which is still going strong today, she provided hundreds of thousands of jobs to help uplift African American men and women out of poverty.

The series goes from the start of her journey as a businesswoman to her death at the age of 51. The story starts with Sarah as a washerwoman who was introduced to hair care products by a woman named Addie Munroe, who is a lighter-skinned African American woman who was selling her hair care products door to door.

She and Sarah built a bit of a relationship, but it turns out that it was based mostly on Addie wanting to use Sarah as a model for her own hair product in turn for getting her clothes washed for free. Sarah tried to get Addie to let her sell for her, but Addie, being racist in her own way, felt that Sarah “didn’t have the right look” since Sarah is very dark-skinned and not skinny and “pretty” like Addie. Addie straight up tells Sarah, “You don’t have the right look. Women would do anything to look like me, but you? Not so much.”

So Sarah swiped some of Addie’s products, sold all 20 tins, and came back with the money to prove to Addie that she could sell. Addie was pissed that Sarah stole her products and goes on a tirade about how low-born and ugly Sarah is. So Sarah leaves and goes home and starts working on creating her own product line…and a lifetime rivalry is born.

That’s the opening premise of the show, but how it unfolds is spell-binding.

First off, I want to take time to acknowledge the skillful intercuts using modern music and in the first ep the concept of a boxing match between the two women. It at no point takes you out of the feel of a period piece as happens often when modern music or visuals are put into historical period pieces. It's also not done in a way that feels self-mocking, the modern music somehow feels right in this setting and it adds a new level to the story.

As far as the writing, it’s complex. There are levels of racism between lighter-skinned and darker-skinned, white-on-black racism, and jealousy between women who look more “eurocentric and pretty” versus ones who don’t.

There’s also a narrative about how the men feel about being married to powerful driven women and layers dealing with LGBTQ relationships as well and pack all that on top of the fact that this is an African American woman breaking into industry 40 years after Emancipation. There is a whole lot going on here but it never feels like it’s hitting you over the head with a hammer. It’s realistic, raw, and delivered with such finesse and emotion that you can’t help but get sucked in.

I don’t want to get too much into the details as I don’t want to give spoilers, but what really captured me was the interplay of the determination to push and fight for a better life and seize any and all opportunities they could that all the characters had.

The discussions of how “Massa” had treated them and the deep, deep well of strength and resiliency to embrace their freedoms after centuries of slavery. There is never a sense of hopelessness, there’s always a sense of we will survive and come out stronger on the other side.

The other thing that struck me was the undertones of what Sarah had to deal with trying to prove that marketing to people that looked like her would work, she knew that she didn’t have to provide a false sense of beauty standards to be successful, and she was right.

Why is it that women are still struggling with this concept over a hundred years later? Brown-haired girls want to be blonde, heavier girls want to be skinny, girls with pale skin want tans, darker-skinned girls want to be lighter skinned, etc. It seems like things are somewhat changing now but come on ladies, let’s get over this already. Can we?

I will say that you will cheer for Karma delivering what certain characters deserved by the end hehe.

Sarah’s daughter Lelia has such a great arc and lesson that she teaches Sarah by the end of the show. The moment that Sarah realizes she is doing to her daughter the same things she has fought against all her life is so well done and touching in its acceptance. It showcases perfectly the summit of Sarah’s journey in overcoming all the struggles she has had in her own life to gain acceptance from society.

The show will also give you some great insights into pivotal historical African American characters and how they were viewed by their contemporaries. The visuals are luscious, the camera work is outstanding and you will have a lot of your assumptions and preconceptions challenged in multiple ways while watching this.

I think this show should be required viewing for the entire country, especially right now with everything that is going on in our shifting cultural paradigms.

Anyway, watch it, you’ll love it!

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

If you like my writing I have books too!! Honor Bound and Testament of an Archangel — Check them out!

Love listening to books? Get a free trial of Audible.com here!

Running out of space for your books on your shelves? Free trial of Kindle Unlimited here!

I have started the Dems Kicking Ass Podcast if you’re looking for more positive stories on all the things the Dems are getting done.

Feel free to use links below to either buy me a whiskey if you like my writings and/or make sure you get my articles before anyone else does. Thanks for your support!